The Denver Nuggets were big favorites heading into the NBA Finals and started off strong with a dominant performance in Game 1.
They have been getting a lot of praise from all corners for it but head coach Michael Malone wanted to make sure his players knew they have done nothing yet.
“I told our players today, don’t read the paper,” Malone said. “Don’t listen to the folks on the radio and TV saying that this series is over and that we’ve done something because we haven’t done a damn thing.”
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The job isn’t finished by any means and Malone wants to drill that into each and every one of his players. The Miami Heat are an incredibly resilient team and if you take your foot off the gas at any point, they can make you pay for it.
We saw that to an extent in Game 1, where a 24-point lead for the Nuggets toward the end of the third quarter had been cut down to 10 early on in the fourth. Nikola Jokic ensured there was going to be no great comeback but the Nuggets need to make sure they don’t give the Heat life in this series.
Michael Malone Was Not Happy With His Team’s Performance In Game 1
Another reason why Malone wouldn’t want his team to get carried away is that he wasn’t happy with how they played in Game 1. He felt his team didn’t play well as they gave up 16 wide-open threes and the Heat just so happened to miss a lot of those shots.
The Heat have been lights out from beyond the arc for much of these playoffs but went just 13-39 in Game 1. If you keep giving them open looks, they are eventually going to start hitting those threes and once they start falling, there isn’t much you can do, as the Boston Celtics found out.
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